Archives for March 2006

‘The Sabres were powered to victory in large part to stellar play from Tim Connolly who finally returned to the line up last night (Kalinin and Fitzpatrick were the scratches). J.P. Dumont had a pair of goals and co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere also had strong games.’

'"Right now, we seem to be getting a lot of appreciation from the fans," said Roy, 22, who is in his second season with the razor-sharp Sabres, one of the NHL's best teams this season. "We haven't made the playoffs in a while, so the fans are very appreciative. They keep coming up to us and saying that we've given them hope."'

‘”The message this morning was we took a lot of pride in being a very disciplined club, and I thought we were undisciplined,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought it started with myself behind the bench. We have to get the composure back, stay away from the officials and not worry about the call. We’re going to get some, we’re not gonna get some. We’ve taken a lot of pride in that, and I think we started using that as an excuse. We wiped that off the board again.”‘

‘”The preliminary stuff came back and it was all positive,” the Buffalo Sabres forward said. “It’s just a case of moving on, step-by-step. The next step involves working through some contact in practice – when you have a guy’s hand on you, and you have to fight through checks, get bounced off the boards. It’s a different type of conditioning. No matter how much you skate, the muscles are always sore from the banging. There is a little bit of an adjustment period there.”‘

'"There's a room in there where the guys are upset, they're not happy," Ruff said, pointing to the Sabres' locker room following practice Tuesday. "And that just tells you that this might be the best thing for the team. We may, in the long run, get a lot more out of this stretch than you can imagine."'

'The decision by coach Lindy Ruff came after Mair passed a series of tests Monday in Pittsburgh. Although Mair has been skating regularly the past few weeks, he will still be out an undetermined period before being ready to play in a game. He remains on injured reserve.'

'When young players find themselves in their first Stanley Cup Playoffs, as Vanek will this spring, they can draw upon their previous experiences, and that's where this kid has an edge. He has had so much success in his early career that a coach may be able to count on him.'

'Here's the good news for the Sabres: The more Jagr accomplished against the Sabres, the better chance Buffalo had of avoiding him and playing Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs. The Sabres are 3-0 against the Flyers this season with one meeting between the two teams awaiting them April 7 in HSBC Arena.'

'His eye was various shades of purple and tinted with yellow Monday. His teammates already had warned him that getting his nose back in line might be more painful than the initial blow. McKee wasn't looking forward to finding out.'